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FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR

Obama’s NLRB Recess Appointee Heads Back To AFL-CIO–With A Promotion!

It’s been five months since Barack Obama’s recess appointee to the National Labor Relations Board, SEIU and AFL-CIO attorney Craig Becker, stepped away from the union-controlled agency. Now, after a brief stint at Georgetown University, Becker’s headed back into the House of Labor—with a promotion from his previous AFL-CIO post.

Prior to his time at the NLRB, Craig Becker was associate general counsel to both the AFL-CIO and SEIU. On Tuesday, however, the nation’s top union boss, Richard Trumka announced that Craig Becker would be re-joining the AFL-CIO as co-general counsel.

“Craig Becker is a brilliant lawyer and creative thinker with deep experience in labor law, litigation and organizing; his combination of legal acumen and experience on the ground is simply unmatched,” Trumka said. “The strengths of these two extraordinary lawyers, Becker and Rhinehart, are a perfect complement, and together they will lead a powerhouse legal program to protect and promote the interests of working men and women.”

Becker’s time at the NLRB was mired in controversy from the very beginning as he flagrantly ruled on cases involving his former (and now present) employers.

Nevertheless, his refusal to recuse himself from cases involving the SEIU never resulted in as much as a hand-slap and Becker continued to inflict as much damage as he could on America’s union-free workplace as he could during his time on the Board.

In fact, his final act (along with his union-lawyer sidekick and NLRB chairman Mark Pearce) was the unleashing of so-called ambush election rules. While the rule was recently overturned by a federal court due to the NLRB’s lacking of a quorum, ambush elections are expected to come up again soon.

He’s willing to push NLRB discretion as far as possible to tilt today’s labor rules in favor of easier unionization.

Of course, Barack Obama’s pledge to end the revolving door between special interests and government doesn’t apply to Becker and his hypocritical bosses the House of Labor.

Now, with his return to the AFL-CIO (along with his promotion to co-general counsel), one cannot help but wonder whether pro-union Congressman George Miller will call for a special investigation into whether there were improper discussions between Becker and the AFL-CIO while he was at the NLRB.